


Finding true north again

by rmc28



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-16
Updated: 2013-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-29 14:49:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1006676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rmc28/pseuds/rmc28
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Maya survived being shot and came to work for SHIELD.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding true north again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smaragdbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/gifts).



Maya fell where Killian had shot her. He was still talking, and a small part of her registered with incredulity his supposed job offer to Tony. As if he would really work with Tony; as if Tony could actually replace her; as if Tony would actually work with Killian. Did Killian not pay attention to what happened to people who threatened Tony? But most of her attention was taken up with cataloguing the damage done to her body, counting down the seconds she had left. So much pain, so much blood, so little time left.

Killian finished his gloating and left the cellar, and at least for now they were alone. Maya closed her eyes and used the injector. She had lied about the dosage, knowing that it wouldn't have been immediately obvious if Killian had called her bluff in the way she'd expected, but all her options narrowed down to this one: die now bleeding out on the floor, or risk dying later from Extremis.

Her skin began to glow as Extremis spread through her blood ... so fast and oh! it hurt, it hurt, even more than being shot. She wanted to scream and bit down hard to stop herself making any noise. All her effort and focus went into keeping quiet and moving slowly and steadily into a dark corner between work benches, somewhere guards sent to watch Tony would hopefully miss. In the corner of her eye, she caught the movement of Tony's head, lifting up in response to her own motions. Just before pulling herself finally out of sight, she turned her head to meet Tony's eyes. She didn't know what was in her own, but his grew dark and fierce, and he nodded to her. Just as she got into place they heard the footsteps of approaching guards.

Then it was all pain and fighting to keep silent as Extremis racked through her. Dimly she heard Tony bicker with the guards, and felt a distant gratitude to him for keeping their attention on him and not on the room. She was gambling on Killian not bothering to mention the dead body he expected them to find; if they started looking for her she was doomed. But it seemed Killian was too focused on himself and his new "trophy" to remember to pass on such things to his staff.

Time passed, Maya's attention all inward and focused on being silent. There was a brief period of loud noise and the bright flashes of repulsor blasts, then an unknown period of silence. Then Tony was in front of her. She managed to focus on his face, on his voice.

"Maya. Maya. Blink once if you can hear me."

She blinked once, slowly. He seemed to sag with relief.

"Ok, Maya. We've dealt with all the guards; you can move now or make a noise if you have to." He touched her mouth and she realised she was biting through her lip. She stopped doing that, and a moan escaped.

"Maya, I've got to go, Rhodey and I have to save Pepper and stop Killian killing the President. But I'm calling some people who can help you. I'm calling SHIELD, and Natasha Romanoff. Will you hang in there for them? They won't be long. You can trust Natasha."

She blinked once again.

"You're not just coincidentally blinking when I talk are you?"

She blinked twice, rapidly. He grinned at her. Then he went away and she was back to her own small world full of pain.

***

She thought about Pepper, to distract from the pain. She thought about her accepting Maya's presence at face value and not letting it distract her from arguing Tony into leaving.

She remembered flying through the air for the second time in a few minutes, her fall broken this time by the Iron Man suit, and looking up groggily to see the helmet open and show Pepper's face rather than Tony's. She remembered watching Pepper whirled around by the suit dismantling itself and flying away, to end standing fierce and strong and utterly focused away from Maya, after one glance to check she was ok. She remembered fiery hair against a fiery sunset and dark clouds of destruction. She remembered lying on the shattered concrete and feeling like she was still falling.

She remembered watching Pepper in full-on business mode, dealing with the emergency workers, arranging for site clearance, arranging to take Maya with her as she left. She remembered a kinder, friendlier Pepper listening to Maya ramble about Wehrner von Braun and losing her direction. She remembered the fear on Pepper's face even as her first thought was to shout "Maya! Run!"

Maya wanted very much for Pepper to survive Extremis. 

Maya wanted very much to survive Extremis herself.

***

Someone was saying her name. Maya opened her eyes and saw a woman in a black superhero suit, red hair, beautiful face. A familiar face, since New York. 

"Maya. Maya Hansen. You can hear me." Maya blinked once, and the Black Widow nodded.

"Dr Hansen, I'm Agent Romanoff. Stark called me and asked me to take care of you, with SHIELD. You self-administered Extremis, and it will take about 48 hours for your system to accept or reject it, yes?" Maya blinked once.

"Tony thought these computers held information on Extremis, was he correct?" Maya blinked once.

"Ok." The Black Widow stood and spoke to people Maya couldn't see. She could hear a flurry of activity though, and then two people dressed as medical orderlies appeared with a stretcher. 

"Dr Hansen." The Black Widow waited until Maya looked at her.

"We're going to take you to a SHIELD base to monitor you while you ride out Extremis. The scientists here are taking a copy of your data and we're going to take as good care of you as we can. I will stay with you throughout and I will make sure you understand what is happening at every point. Ok?"

Maya blinked once. She thought about asking why an Avenger was being so careful with her, but wasn't sure she could open her mouth without screaming. The Black Widow answered her anyway.

"You want to know why I'm doing this. I told you: Stark asked me to take care of you and I will." Their eyes met, and Maya saw compassion and steely determination in them.

"We're going to move you to the stretcher now." Maya let her eyes close and concentrated on not screaming as they moved her.

***

Tony came to see her very briefly, while her body was still fighting Extremis. Natasha sat near her, relaxed and reading a book to a casual glance. Tony glanced at Maya once, mouth tight, then turned to Natasha. "Excellent work, Agent Romanoff. Can you keep it up a bit longer?" Natasha simply nodded. "OK, then I'm going to go do my thing," said Tony and disappeared.

Pepper came when Maya's body had finally finished accepting Extremis. "Maya, Agent Romanoff," she nodded, entering Maya's hospital room.

"I'm so glad you're alive," said Maya, without thinking.

"Me too," said Pepper drily. The silence stretched awkwardly. Maya thought, looking at Pepper, that she was all business now. Not much trace of friendliness or kindness.

"What happens now?" asked Maya. Pepper and Natasha exchanged glances.

"That depends on you Dr Hansen," said Natasha. There was no compassion in her gaze now. "You are complicit in the deaths of at least 73 people, and injuries to many more. It's possible that death toll will rise, as we go through the documentation of the Extremis project. You worked for an organisation that tried to terrorise the American people and murder their President ... " she raised a hand to forestall the protest forming in Maya's mouth. "We still need to learn from you whatever you may or may not have personally known about the Mandarin plot, but we have more than enough evidence to lock you away for life."

Maya held very still, forcing herself to keep eye contact with the Black Widow, acknowledging the truth she spoke.

"That said, SHIELD wants to know more about Extremis, Stark wants to stabilise it, and you share with him and Ms Potts a strong incentive for him to succeed. If you want to begin making amends for your deeds, we could make better use of you than rotting in a cell.

"Before that," broke in Pepper. "I need to know. When Killian arrived at our hotel room, were you fast-talking him into keeping me alive, or did you know he was coming?"

Maya took a breath. "Did I give you away, you mean? No. I knew he was obsessed with you, that he would be trying to find you, and that he was getting more and more obsessive and violent. So I knew he would be coming, in a general sense, and I ... prepared the best arguments I could think of. But no, I didn't tell him where we were, or know he would come to that hotel at that time."

She watched as Pepper exchanged a glance with the Black Widow, the latter nodding slightly.

"Ok then," said Pepper.

"Ok then," echoed the Black Widow. "Do you want to co-operate, Dr Hansen?"

She was out of options again, really. But it seemed less desperate than it had in Killian's dungeon.

"Yes," she said. Both the other women smiled.

"Then, welcome to SHIELD, and your immediate secondment to the Stark-Potts research project," said Tony, walking into the room with his usual impeccable timing. "Hey, three of my favourite terrifying women. It's like Tony's Angels in here. Good morning angels!"

"No, Tony," said Pepper, but her smile grew wider to greet him as he began protesting.

The Black Widow turned back to Maya, ignoring the Pepper and Tony show taking place behind her. "He is right though, welcome to SHIELD." She looked actually welcoming and Maya wondered why.

"I know something about second chances," said the Black Widow before she could ask. "Make the most of this one."

"I intend to," said Maya.


End file.
